More platforms planned for Ebok/Okoro fields offshore Nigeria

August 23, 2013

Offshore staff

LONDON – Front-end engineering design (FEED) and planning has started for the Okoro Further Field Development (OFFD) project offshore Nigeria.

According to operator Afren, the partners have sanctioned fabrication of a new 12-slot wellhead platform capable of sustaining 12 trees, allowing it to host up to 24 wells. It would additionally accommodate wireline and coil tubing systems.

The platform will be bridge-linked to the existing Okoro Main wellhead platform. It is not possible to upgrade the existing Okoro FPSO, so a new mobile offshore production unit (MOPU) will be installed as close as possible to the OFFD facilities.

Afren’s new central fault block extension platform for the offshore Ebok field will set sail for Nigeria in November. Wells from this platform will target reservoirs containing reserves of around 38 MMbbl.

The partners are considering options for Ebok’s northern fault block, the most likely being development wells drilled from an extended WFB platform and producing through the existing MOPU.

As for the offshore Okwok discovery, this will probably be developed via a dedicated production processing platform tied back to the Ebok FSO vessel 13 km (8 mi) to the west.

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In Nigerian offshore lease OML 115, Afren and partner Oriental will drill Ufon South-1, the first exploration well on the block, toward end-2013. The Ufon structure has prospective resources of 65 MMbbl, and is structurally and geologically analogous to the Ebok and Okwok fields but with deeper exploration potential.

Elsewhere in the sector, in June Afren announced that the Ogo-1 exploration well in Nigerian license OPL 310 had encountered a significant light oil accumulation with 216 ft (66 m) of net stacked pay. The well was then deepened to tag the crystalline basement and reached a total MD of 10,648 ft (3,245 m).

Currently, the side track Ogo-1 ST is being drilling to test both the down-dip extension of the Ogo discovery and a new play of stratigraphically trapped sediments that pinch out onto the basement high. Consultants NSAI estimate P50 resources on OPL 310 at 476 MMboe.

Last month, FHN joined Afren as a partner in offshore license OML 113, which includes the 1996 discovery Aje. Three of the four wells drilled on the field have encountered oil and gas in intervals across the Turonian, Cenomanian, and Albian sands, while Aje-1 and Aje-2 both tested at commercial rates.

The partners estimate resources at 167 MMboe, with a further 205 MMboe of prospective resources elsewhere on the block. They are considering early production from Aje followed by full-field development later, in synergy with Ogo in OPL 310.

Offshore Côte d’Ivoire, Afren has agreed tp the sale of the CI-11 block and the associated onshore Lion Gas Plant for $26.5 million. It expects the transaction to be completed this summer.

Finally, Afren has received processed data from a 620-sq km (239-sq mi) 3D seismic survey acquired over the Tanga block offshore Tanzania. Initial interpretation of the 3D has revealed structures with conforming amplitudes.

The partners have identified a rig to drill the deepwater Mkonge-1 prospect and have a letter of intent with the rig contractor to start the program early next year. Another well is expected to follow on the block later in 2014.